Ordered one of these to my eyes the 104 is the only "real wilga" the modern models don't have that cool crop duster look.

Couple questions:

1) 2S seems too weak for a model this size. Should I try flying this one stock or just immediately convert to 3S? I don't want super fast flying just scale-like and enough power to handle some wind.

2) Has anyone made a better cowl (the stock one doesn't look scale at all to my eyes, too long and narrow. If so how did you construct it ?

One of my favorite all-time planes, I may repaint to yellow and blue though, looking forward !

2S 1000mAh is plenty powerful for this plane, I fly with a tired 950mAh 2S battery and easily get 10 minutes. I found that it needs a good bit of nose weight, otherwise flying with flaps deployed or in any sort of wind is not fun at all.

About the cowl. It's not very scale, neither is anything else on this plane. It will also shatter on your first crash. I think I'll make one out of fiberglass.

Painting is also probably more of a necessity. The paint peels off by touching it with your hands. I don't know what kind of paint it is, but it seems like it's silicone and it sticks to my skin better than it sticks to the foam.

I wish I could find some spares, HobbyKing does not seem to have any. Also some props would be nice.

I agree with Gedexas - 2S is plenty for this aircraft, and I also agree that the cowl is far from scale I have however no problem with peeling paint, and have not seen the need for extra weight either - but the latter might come down to preferences.

I bought a complete kit, initially intended to be spares, but I suspect that I will be tempted to put it together with some modifications... Should be delivered today, and I'm wondering if there is propellers in the kit...

I have been looking for a vendor to supply spare parts and came across RedStarHobbies from Australia. The have a store on Ebay. See Link.

If you know of another source, please do share

I shot them an e-mail and they told me that shipping internationally is a little problematic for them. I wanted the yellow wilga from them, but they never replied. Their ebay page says "posting to: Australia". Maybe someone local can buy from them and ship it to the rest of us?

One more thing I had to do to my Wilga was to reinforce the landing gear. Maybe my landings are a little rough, anyway, my landing gear took the entire plastic "slot" piece with it from the fuselage. I used epoxy to glue everything back and then reinforced everything with carbon fiber rod.

- What is an alternate Propeller that you guys would recommend? I am thinking SlowFly 8x4.. Any ideas?

- Can someone kindly share a picture of their motor-mount. I need to see the motor angle (I think, my plane came angled to the left and I know, typically planes have 2-3 degrees down and 2-3 degrees right). Any guidance will be appreciated

- What is an alternate Propeller that you guys would recommend? I am thinking SlowFly 8x4.. Any ideas?

- Can someone kindly share a picture of their motor-mount. I need to see the motor angle (I think, my plane came angled to the left and I know, typically planes have 2-3 degrees down and 2-3 degrees right). Any guidance will be appreciated

I had to adjust the angle of mine. Here's how.

Center all the control surfaces and center the motor, then take off. Go full throttle. If it pitches up, angle the motor down, if it pitches up after you remove throttle, add nose weight, repeat. When your balance and motor angle is perfect, the plane should fly perfectly level at full throttle and should enter a gentle glide angle when the throttle is down.

You also need a few degrees of right thrust to prevent ot from rolling left. It will still go left on take off, just not while flying, you can't trim this out.

I do not fully agree to your method of determining the downthrust, Gedexas

I would have started with centered control surfaces and motor (or perhaps motor 2 deg. right and down), trimmed the plane for straight and level flight at 50-75% throttle, and then cut the throttle at fast level flight. If the plane pitches nose down, increase downthrust - nose up, decrease downthrust. When the plane continue straight forward for a while before starting to loose attitude, you have the correct amount. With that done, pull vertical from straight'n level keeping throttle constant. Yaw left-> more right thrust, yaw left -> more left thrust.

For CG - with the aircraft trimmed,do a 45 degree dive on low throttle, let go controls. Dives a short distance and pulls out slow -> CG ok. Pitches nose up abruptly ->tail heavy, add nose weight. If it tucks under - nose heavy... Or with another plane than the Wilga, go inverted and aim for a little bit forward stick to keep it level.

And I would have made sure that the CG was pr. instruction/manual before starting the trust adjustment.

Mine was good straight out of the box, no weight added for CG, no thrust adjustment...
(The motor axle sits perfectly in center of the hole in the cowl )

- What is an alternate Propeller that you guys would recommend? I am thinking SlowFly 8x4.. Any ideas?

- Can someone kindly share a picture of their motor-mount. I need to see the motor angle (I think, my plane came angled to the left and I know, typically planes have 2-3 degrees down and 2-3 degrees right). Any guidance will be appreciated

Not the best pictures (phone/low light), but here's mine - as out of the box, behavior documented in previous videos

Thank you Kai, your pics confirms my test and thrustline adjustments yesterday (a bit off when I got it), and I agree about your comment that it should be called FunWilga.
I,ve modded mine with two aileron servos and nav lights.
It,s a keeper for sure.

I received my kit today, and am starting planning the "SuperFunWilga" build
I have not decided whether I'll go for twin aileron servos or twin flap servos yet (or perhaps both, if I can keep the weight down...)

The reason for twin flap servos is the ability to use them together with the ailerons for full length ailerons - should be good fun!

I received my kit today, and am starting planning the "SuperFunWilga" build
I have not decided whether I'll go for twin aileron servos or twin flap servos yet (or perhaps both, if I can keep the weight down...)

The reason for twin flap servos is the ability to use them together with the ailerons for full length ailerons - should be good fun!

Stay safe, fly slow
Kai

Servos from an old JP Twister Bell 47 heli, JP EnErG S7.5 , about the same size as HXT 900.
Don,t belive the weigh increased so much, after all, you remove the old stuff. (piano wire,wire tubing and the old servo) Plus, you get a lot more precise aileron action.
Twin flap servos sounds like a lot of fun, keep us posted.